Recently there has been some debate about the quality of sound available of
bird calls on currently available CD ROM's, particularly the Simpson & Day
version.
As I am working on producing CD's of Bird Calls of Australia I would
welcome comment on what Birding-aus subscribers see as essential for
inclusion in CD's of bird calls.
My approach is to present the species
content on a biogeographical regional basis. On a broad scale the regions
would be Inland, Tropical Northern, Tropical North Eastern, Sub Stropical
Eastern, Temperate South Eastern (includes Tasmania) and Temperate South
Western & Mallee.
I intend including all passerines that are regular breeding species as well
as the more common introduced species. Non passerines will very likely NOT
INCLUDE seabirds, shorebirds and waterbirds unless sound is a useful tool to
identification in the field. Most species in these categories are highly
visual and sound is not an important medium for recognition. However, Rails,
Crakes and Bitterns will certainly be included and other groups, if I get
the feel that sound is a necessary adjunct for identification, will also be
included.
Given the comments mentioned on Birding-aus already
about sound quality I would be interested to know people's views about what
they see as essential information concerning the sound provided. I should
mention that I have digitally recorded almost 600 species of Australian
birds and given my contacts I am well placed to produce high quality sound
to cover the range of species in the categories mentioned above.
My major problems are whether to put voice ID on the CD, whether voice should
introduce or follow the calls, is locality of the call important, which
calls are the most important etc. Ideally, I would like people to use Field
Guides in conjunction with the CD's and therefore information in the covers
should concentrate on sound attributes. What are your veiws?
1. Would you like the English name before or after the call?
2. Would you expect more than one type of call for each species?
3. Is cost a major factor?
4. Would you like to know where the calls were taken and when?
5. What minimum length of a given song/call is desireable?
6. What would you expect to see written in the CD cover?
Please email me direct, or alternatively, my contact details are David
Stewart, P O Box 256, Mullumbimby NSW 2482 and telephone/fax 02.66840127.
Comments would be very much appreciated and hopefully the product birder's
want will become a reality.
David Stewart
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